


and i am the one who you can call at any time

by s-sokka (poesidone)



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, I'm just kidding, M/M, Pining, Pre-Relationship, and they were ROOMMATES, is it mutual? you be the judge, it's definitely mutual, oh my god they were roommates, written bc of a cute ask i got on tumblr
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-21
Updated: 2020-09-21
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:35:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26575351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poesidone/pseuds/s-sokka
Summary: Zuko and Sokka are roommates (oh my god they were roommates) and Zuko gets locked out of the apartment.
Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 18
Kudos: 254





	and i am the one who you can call at any time

**Author's Note:**

> this was written bc of a cute ask i got on tumblr earlier this evening. this one's for you, anon!! beta read by stace (@ordinaryfruitpunch on tumblr) thanks buddy!!
> 
> title from "Don't Let Me Fall Behind" by Jukebox the Ghost

Zuko wasn’t sure how much longer he could stand to wait out here. It was his own fault that he was stuck here, anyway. If he hadn’t forgotten his keys on the counter this morning he wouldn’t be in this situation now. He’d been in a rush this morning, he had slept through his alarm and had barely made it to class on time. The only reason he woke up at all this morning was because his roommate had knocked on his door after Zuko’s 5th alarm started going off.

His roommate, Sokka. Who he had considered texting after he had sat on the dirty tile outside their door for ten minutes. He hadn’t texted him, though, because he didn’t want to interrupt him if he was doing something important, or annoy him or something. They had been living together for three months now, since the semester had started, ever since Suki had told him she had a friend who was looking for a roommate. Suki and Sokka apparently went way back, she had mentioned that the two of them had dated during their freshman year. 

He and Sokka had been getting along fine, but Zuko would still rather be uncomfortable than inconvenience the other boy. Maybe it was because of his social anxiety, it wouldn’t be the first time his brain had insisted he put the needs of others before his own. Or maybe it was because of the butterflies Zuko felt in his stomach whenever his roommate smiled at him over the dinner that Zuko had made for the two of them to share. Zuko felt like he knew what the answer was here, but he had resolved to ignore it. It would be better this way in the long run.

He checked his phone again, it felt like he had been sitting on the ground for at least an hour by now, but a glance at the time told him that it had only been 24 minutes. Zuko groaned and put his phone back in his pocket, cursing himself for staying up so late last night. If he had gone to bed at a reasonable hour, he wouldn’t have slept through his alarms this morning and then forgotten his keys because he was in such a rush to leave. It wasn’t that he had wanted to stay up so late, but he had to finish his research paper outline to turn in for a grade today and he had completely forgotten about the assignment until it was 11pm and he was already half-asleep. He had had to drag himself out of his warm, comfy bed to go sit at his desk and outline a paper on a topic that he did not care about even remotely. It was such a stupid class, too, all they ever talked about in discussions was--

Zuko was pulled out of his thoughts by the sound of the stairwell door opening and Sokka appearing from behind it. Zuko felt his stomach flip when Sokka’s eyes landed on Zuko where he was seated outside their door. His brow scrunched up in concern and confusion, and Zuko wasn’t even going to try to deny how cute that expression looked on Sokka’s face.

“Hey, man,” Sokka greeted Zuko with a question in his voice. “Are you okay? How long have you been out here?” He sounded and looked more concerned than Zuko thought he deserved.

“Uh,” Zuko responded eloquently. “Less than 30 minutes, not too long.” He stood up and brushed himself off and picked his bag up from where it had been resting against the wall next to him.

Sokka frowned as he unlocked the door to their apartment and turned the handle to let them both inside. He flicked the light switch to illuminate the room as Zuko shut the door behind them. “Why didn’t you text me? I would have come to let you in, these halls get cold in the fall.”

Zuko had to agree that halls did indeed get cold in the fall, his frozen hands were proof of that. “So I found out.” He muttered as he rubbed his hands together, not explaining why he hadn’t texted Sokka.

Sokka turned around from where he had ventured into the living room area and set his bag down by the couch. His eyes caught on Zuko’s hands, which he was still trying to warm up. 

“Here, let me help.” Sokka quickly crossed back to where Zuko was standing and took his hands in his.

Zuko couldn't control the small gasp that escaped him, he had been caught off guard both by the sudden movement and the intimacy of Sokka cradling his hands to warm them. The atmosphere seemed to shift, but Zuko wasn’t sure if that was just his imagination playing tricks on him.

“I never realized you had such poor circulation.” Sokka joked quietly, his voice still somehow sounding loud in the silence of their apartment. Zuko was standing frozen, watching Sokka slowly and gently work the warmth back into Zuko’s fingers and palms.

“You don’t have to do that.” Zuko felt like he was whispering as he looked back up at Sokka’s face and found that Sokka was already looking at him with a strange look in his eyes. 

“Why didn’t you text me?” Zuko was shocked by how genuinely upset Sokka sounded.

Zuko shrugged, careful not to move his hands too much, not wanting Sokka to let go of them quite yet. “I didn’t want to bother you.”

“But you had no idea when I would be back,” Sokka was frowning now. “You could have been sitting there for hours before I came back.”

“I would have texted you after an hour, probably.” Zuko tried to reassure him, but his words only seemed to make it worse.

“‘Probably’?” Sokka’s grip on his hands tightened almost imperceptibly and he looked Zuko dead in the eyes, facing him with an expression that Zuko didn’t recognize. “Zuko, you can always let me know when you need help. I want to help you.” He spoke the last statement with such genuine conviction that Zuko felt he had no choice but to believe him.

“Okay,” He breathed, still meeting Sokka’s eyes, feeling transfixed. “I’ll let you know next time.” He promised, to Sokka and himself.

“Good.” Sokka fixed him with one final look before squeezing his hands and letting them go.

Zuko let his arms float back to his sides as he watched Sokka take a step back. Zuko felt like maybe he was going crazy, because it looked like Sokka was blushing. Before Zuko had time to process what that might mean, Sokka was already making a beeline to the kitchen, shouting over his shoulder as if the moment before hadn’t even happened.

“So, what are we making for dinner tonight?” Sokka called, clearly expecting Zuko to follow after him as they fell into their evening routine.

And Zuko did, letting himself get pulled into the soft domesticity of making dinner with his roommate.

**Author's Note:**

> i love that no one ever actually gets together in any of my fics, what's that all about huh??
> 
> anyaway, i'm @s-sokka on tumblr


End file.
